I know this oyster item is a torture for my readers out west, so all I can say is, when you come to New York, hit the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station.

www.oysterbarny.comThe executive chef, Sandy Ingbar, buys those oysters himself at the New Fulton Fish Market every morning (now in an improved facility in the Bronx–the old South Street Seaport location just got too mobby and dirty and scary). www.newfultonfishmarket.com GCOB’s oysters are, to my palate, consistently the freshest in town. My favorite species, the Totten Virginicas, are in now. They are an east coast oyster that is grown on the west coast, and as such, represents to me the ultimate American bivalve: briny like the eastern waters and sweet like the western waters. I always eat at May’s counter, the first one on the right when you enter, even if there are seats available at other counters.

May is the princess of the oyster bar. She’s Irish and charming and she’s worked there forever. When her counter is full I just stand behind some businessman who is lingering after he’s finished his she-crab soup (a Thursday special) and lurk around until he can’t stand it anymore and folds up his New York Times and leaves. And May is great—she’ll lean past him and stage whispers to me, “He’s almost done!” If you go, let me know. I’ll meet you there.

I only hunt oysters in the fall and this year we found plenty. (The reason why it’s said to only eat oysters in months that have an “R” in them is because in the summer the oysters spawn and milt–they get kind of milky and foamy and they should be left alone to reproduce.) I brought out our friend Wes, to teach him how to find oysters, and open them. The trick to opening them is wearing oven mitts on both hands—then I can crank away and not worry about slitting my palm open. (My friend Sean Sullivan pointed that out to me—he has a blog now, called Spectacularly Delicious spectacularlydelicious.com that is kind of hilarious because he makes dishes that are really complicated or need special equipment or use very exotic ingredients. It’s so politically incorrect that I just love it—plus the food is tasty.) The oyster has two shells, one convex the other concave. You should always store your oysters with the convex shell, or cup, down. Oysters will live on their liquor for a few days, so keeping the cup down helps keep the liquor from dribbling out. It drives me crazy when I see fishmongers displaying oysters cups up. I was just at Eatly (200 Fifth Ave at 23rd Street) Mario Batali and Joe Bastinanich’s emporium to all things Italian (I bought beef cheeks there—wonderful! And a terrific Gorgonzola dolce) and they were displaying beautiful Fisher Island oysters upside down. Sometimes I say something to the vendors, but in New York, unsolicited advice is considered bad manners. Oh well.

We find the oysters at low tide, pretty much sitting on the sand. We only take large ones, and not more than we know we can eat within 24 hours or so—and of course, we have shellfish hunting licenses and hunt only beaches that have been certified as not polluted. The waters of the East End of Long Island are wonderfully clean, but there have been some problems with nutrient run off from people’s lawns.

Anyway, it’s great having a student, because not only is Wes very charming, but he happily does the dirty work like opening all the oysters, in the name of developing his skill set.

Wes opening oysters

I showed him how to make a Sauce Mignonette: minced shallots, champagne vinegar, and coarsely ground black pepper, which we brought out with us so that we could eat the oysters right on the beach. The incredible thing about them was the temperature. Usually in a restaurant the oysters are super cold, but these were the same temperature as the air, about 60 degrees. Between the gentle temperature and the pristine freshness of the oysters, the taste was spectacular—another thing I wanted Wes to know. It’s important, I think, to have a base line palate for how foods are supposed to taste.

Oysters on the beach

After we ate the oysters we flung the shells back in the water. Then I noticed the most incredible thing: Within minutes of the oyster hitting the water, snails, little crabs, and baby fish descended upon it, eating the bits of oyster meat that remained, to the point where we couldn’t even see the shell anymore, but just a mound of black snails. It was the most efficient, vibrant sight, and it reminded me of the Doctrine of Infallibility: That there is no compound, man made or natural, that microorganisms can’t degrade. The snails and little crabs are the first wave of that process.

Within minutes of being throw in the water...

The trick is to match the degrader and the compound. When I take my oysters home, half of which I did so I could make a pasta dish, and throw the shells into my compost heap or the garbage, I am keeping the shells away from their natural degrader. So Kevin and I put a bin behind the shed and chucked the shells in there, to hump back to the beach next time.

...and a few minutes after that

That night I made Spaghettini with Oysters. We’ve been going over to our friend’s Natalie Smith and John Zutto’s a lot this fall—they’ve got a little baby so it’s kind of hard for them to come to us. John is an news producer and Natalie has the grooviest tableware store in Lower Manhattan, Global Table. globaltable.com We had the spaghettini with oysters, then grilled elk steaks which we’d marinated for two days in wine, lemon, herbs, and home canned horseradish, and a beautiful plum tart—Natalie is half French and I am convinced there is some kind of genetic thing with the French and flaky pastry. But she says it is all about the fruit.

Spaghettini with Oysters
Serves 4 as a first course
You can also make this dish with clams, scallops, and mussels, or a combination. And if you like tomatoes, add a ½ cup of tomato puree in the oyster stock pan and reduce as described. You can also garnish with fresh chopped tomatoes.

Open the oysters over a bowl to retain the liquor. Gently scoop the oysters out of the bowl and place in a separate container. Strain the liquor through a cheese close of very fine strainer to remove any bit of shell or sand. Set aside the strained liquor. You should have about a ½ cup.

Set aside about ½ cup of the stock. Bring the remaining stock to a boil in a wide pot. Add the pasta. Using tongs, press the pasta down into the stock. Stir frequently to be sure the pasta doesn’t stick. The pasta will absorb all the stock in 12 minutes or so.

In the meantime, heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic and cook for just a minute—do not brown or even let it color. Then add the ½ cup of stock, the oyster liquor and white wine. Bring to a boil and boil gently until the liquor is reduced by half—6 to 8 minutes. Add the oysters and poach for a minute: just until the oysters plump up and the mantles becomes frilly. Take off the heat right away.

Of course, you can preserve oysters. You simply open them and rinse in a salt brine, pack them into half pint or pint jars with their strained liquor, cover in a weak salt brine (1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water), leave 1 inch of headroom and, for half pints and pints, process for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure up to 1000 feet altitude, or 15 pounds of pressure at altitude of 1000 feet or over. I am thinking oysters could be processed in white wine and garlic too–the timing would be the same–to create a kind of premade dish. And you can smoke them, too. Maybe next weekend….

Eugenia, Have you tried the preserved oysters? I was wondering what it did to the freshness of the meat – which is almost the whole point of an oyster to me…(and where are you picking up oysters on the beach in Eastern LI?

Eugenia Bone

I haven’t tried preserving the oysters because quite honestly I eat them all. But I think I have to this fall–it’s such a tempting idea. I wish I could tell you where I find oysters, but it is TOP SECRET. However, we can go cranberry picking at the end of the month if you like…

Mrice

Eugenia, Have you tried the preserved oysters? I was wondering what it did to the freshness of the meat – which is almost the whole point of an oyster to me…(and where are you picking up oysters on the beach in Eastern LI?

Eugenia Bone

I haven’t tried preserving the oysters because quite honestly I eat them all. But I think I have to this fall–it’s such a tempting idea. I wish I could tell you where I find oysters, but it is TOP SECRET. However, we can go cranberry picking at the end of the month if you like…

Torture is putting is mildly! This was excruciating! I love my home in Grand Junction, but when I read such romantic tales of coastal delicacies my mind begins to take flight!! Thank you for your blog I enjoy reading it very much! Alice Haberkorn

Torture is putting is mildly! This was excruciating! I love my home in Grand Junction, but when I read such romantic tales of coastal delicacies my mind begins to take flight!! Thank you for your blog I enjoy reading it very much! Alice Haberkorn

Eugenia Bone, a veteran food writer who has published in many national magazines and newspapers, is also a cookbook author. She is the author of Well-Preserved (Clarkson Potter 2009). She has contributed to many cookbooks and a few literary journals, been nominated for a variety of food writing awards and participated in radio, interactive and online interviews, in addition to appearing multiple times on television. She lives in New York City and Crawford, Colo.

The secret to tasty food is homemade and seasonal. To do that, you've got to put up food. Well-Preserved reports on small batch preservation year round, and generates recipes from those preserved foods.